


Anemoia

by DuaeCat



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Extra Treat, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-28 17:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8455648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuaeCat/pseuds/DuaeCat
Summary: Anemoia: (n) nostalgia for a time you've never known.Set sometime after Order 66.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spaceyquill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceyquill/gifts).



Ahsoka’s footsteps echoed as she walked down the hallway of the abandoned base. She had never been here herself, but she knew most of the layouts well enough to find her way without getting lost. She didn’t know the exact reason this base had been abandoned, most likely just that troops had been called back, but it still felt strangely haunted as silly as that sounded.

Bases like this tended to have supplies, though. Things left behind in hopes of re-occupation, things left behind to save on space, things forgotten. Some of it was junk, but some of it could be supplies they needed to keep their little ship flying. Or they could sell the supplies for credits, either way it was worth the time spent searching the bases. Her com crackled to life sounding far too loud in the quiet and she nearly jumped.

“How goes the search?” Rex’s familiar voice over the device was enough to make her relax marginally.

“The med center was a bust, looks like everything valuable got packed up and shipped back. I’m heading to cargo storage now. How about on your end?” Ahsoka asked.

“A few mostly empty fuel cells. Seems like we figured then, they were called back rather than forced to retreat in a hurry or they wouldn’t have had time to grab more than the basics.” Rex said, and Ahsoka sighed.

“I never know which one I’m hoping for. I still hate thinking of the lives that were bound to have been lost in a retreat, but…” Ahsoka went through a door, not a cargo hold but barracks. It must have been based on an older plan, usually the barracks were somewhere else. There was even less chance of something valuable being left behind here, but she found herself walking down the rows of beds anyway.

“But it would have left more supplies behind for us. I understand.” Rex didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get off the com either and Ahsoka was glad for it.

She walked down the rows, at first glance entirely neat and orderly but if you knew where to look you could find all the little personal touches. Here there were tally marks scratched into the industrial paint and there were nearly hidden designs on the walls obscured by the bunks maybe practice before painting armor or just for the fun of it. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed that she didn’t recognize any of the designs.

“I was wrong, it doesn’t have a cargo hold on this side.” Ahsoka turned and headed back to the door, unwilling to pry any further.

“It’ll be on my side then. Meet me back in the galley?” Rex suggested, and Ahsoka nodded to herself.

“On my way.” Ahsoka closed the barracks back up and started the long trek back.

 

* * *

 

“What’s our final tally?” Ahsoka leaned across the table, hating the way everything echoed in the open room. When it had been full it must have been chaos.

“Nothing too exciting. Three crates full of ration packs. I wouldn’t eat them unless I had no other choice, but someone should pay something for them.” Rex started. Ahsoka made a face, but nodded.

“I think we can guess why they got left behind. Anything else?” Ahsoka asked.

“Just odds and ends, nothing spectacular.” Rex slumped a little. “Sorry this wasn’t more profitable.”

“It’s not your fault. Some of these are bound to be duds and I’d rather find it empty like this than because pirates beat us here.”Ahsoka assured him.

“We’ll get everything loaded up, then if we wanted to we could stay a little longer. It’s doubtful anyone else is going to stumble on this base for a while and the power’s still good for months.” Rex’s words were matter of fact but his tone carried an undercurrent of reluctance and he looked relieved when Ahsoka shook her head.

“I think we’ll both sleep easier in our own beds.” Ahsoka said, and it came out a little more emphatic than she intended.

“You feel it too then?” Rex asked with a slightly strained chuckle.

“Yes. Not anything supersticious, just… I can’t shake the feeling that this place isn’t for us, not anymore.” Ahsoka waved a hand to indicate the sterility of it all. Their ship was old and cramped and well worn, but it was unapologetically lived in. There were no furtive marks mostly hidden as the only sign that individuals had once fought for every scrap of life and personality outside of what they had been purchased and created for.

“That’s all I needed to hear. Shouldn’t take too long to get these packed up.” Rex stood and Ahsoka was happy enough to just follow him to the crates.

 

* * *

 

Much later they both crowded together on the bunk that was never truly designed to hold two. The padding creaked under them as they wrapped up in each-other. Rex pressed soft kisses to the lekku beside her cheeks, more for comfort than anything else and Ahsoka was glad to take it. The Jedi always made emotions sound so simple, joy, fear, sadness… Like you could point to a chart and pick out which one and put a neat little label of good and bad on it. She wasn’t sure what label you would put on grieving that the path you’d been on for so long had been so painful and at the same time she wouldn’t change where she’d ended up.

Ahsoka buried her face against Rex’s shirt, just breathing in the scent of him through the cloth, muscles that had been tense since she first stepped onto the empty base finally starting to relax. With so little room in the bunk there was no way to comfortably keep on any armor. She didn’t need to ask if he ever missed anything about before, she suspected she knew the answer. There was a sort of painful nostalgia for a life that never existed, one where they could have this and everything else, no matter how unrealistic the thought was. Something where love and loyalty born in the fields of battle didn’t need to be brought forth in blood and destruction, and unwavering faith that they would never betray each other didn’t need to come out of finding the point at which others would.

“You’re thinking again.” Rex’s voice was a soft rumble that she felt against her face as much as heard.

“Maybe,” Ahsoka said, pulling away just enough to look up at him, her lips quirked. “Going to do something about it?”

“Was planning on it.” Rex stoked the pad of his thumb along the white marking on her cheek and then tilted his head down. Ahsoka pressed up to meet the kiss with a hunger that surprised her. There was no going home again, much less going back to a home that only existed in an impossible fantasy, but they could make this something worth remembering.


End file.
